We preview Thursday’s IPL fixture which will see the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Kings XI Punjab at the Rajiv Ghandi International Cricket Stadium.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on their minds when they welcome the first team to beat them in this season’s IPL – the Kings XI Punjab.
Thursday’s visitors have rocketed up the standings on the back of some fantastic results and will look to further extend their lead (presuming the Chennai Super Kings fail to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday).
SRH vs KXIP | Thursday 26 April | Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium | 16:30
To Win Match
Sunrisers Hyderabad 21/20
Tie 35/1
Kings XI Punjab 82/100
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Don’t be fooled by the Sunrisers’ narrow victory over a hapless Mumbai Indians on Tuesday evening. They can’t keep failing to spectacularly with the bat only to be bailed out by their bowlers. This is especially true as they face an absolutely loaded Kings XI batting line-up on Thursday.
Only Kane Williamson (29) and Yusuf Pathan (29) managed innings of substance against Mumbai while Manish Pandey (16) and Mohammad Nabi (14) were the only two other players to reach double figures as wickets fell with regularity.
Looking ahead, Manish Pandey has to deliver on promise. He’s only managed on score of substance in the tournament thus far after the Sunrisers paid an eye-watering sum of money to bring him over from the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Looking ahead, the Sunrisers will need more big performances from Rashid Khan and Siddarth Kaul. The two were magnificent against the Indians with the young Afghan leg-spinner returning insane figures of 4-1-11-2 after going for more than 100 runs in his last two games.
The availability of Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be key to the host’s hopes here. The Indian seamer picked up where he left off last season bowling miserly spells in the Power Play overs with regularity. He missed out against the Indians with a minor back problem. Tom Moody will be desperate to have him available come Thursday.
Kings XI Punjab
Chris Gayle – who should be back for this match – showed just how destructive he can be last time these two sides met. He smashed Rashid to all parts and will no doubt look to put in a similar performance against the Afghan wonder-kid. The self-proclaimed ‘Universe Boss’ smashed his way to a 63-ball 104 when the sides clashed last week despite a slow start.
KL Rahul will also look to cash in on an errant bowling. The Indian opener is averaging a shade under 40 in this tournament and another solid opening partnership at the top of the order could see the Kings XI either set a total completely out of reach of the Sunrisers or mow down any target that the Hyderabad franchise may set.
Bowling wise they’re in pretty good shape themselves. Andrew Tye has operated well and has found plenty of success on the low, slow wickets in this competition. The Australian seamer is a veritable bag of tricks and can consistently hit his yorkers at the back-end of an innings.
Honestly speaking, the Kings XI just need a solid performance with the ball in order to win this match. The Sunrisers have shown time and again that – despite the wealth of batting talent at their disposal – they simply can’t post competitive totals.
Verdict: Kings XI Punjab 82/100
The Kings XI are the form team in the tournament at the moment and – if they stick to the basics – should have be too good for the Sunrisers. Back them to come away with the two points at 82/100.
